As it turns out, my first horse has been passed around a bit. I didn't discover most of this until after I paid for him.

He was injured as a yearling. The story was that he was out in a field and got his left front hoof stuck in a tire. As in between the rim and rubber. He has a big scar from it still. The vet said that it does not bother him. Physically, he is in good shape. He is an easy keeper.

He is a 12-year-old Rocky Mountain gelding who has a breed show championship under his belt. His training was done well. (for those of you who have already read part of or all of my story in another thread, I apologize if I'm repeating myself.) He is good for the farrier and has wonderful ground manners.

The first time I fell off him, I went over everything I did or didn't do in my head to try to figure out what went wrong. The second time I came off him, it was directly due to spooking at a dump truck that was several hundred yards away. He did not buck either time.

When I lead him out anywhere, he is super alert. Head high, eyes wide, blowing through his nostrils like a racehorse. The past few times I have gone out to the barn to do anything with him, I have made a point of stopping at different objects that seemed to scare him to give him a chance to check them out.

In the pasture, he is a loner. He doesn't seem to really warm up to people either. So I guess my question has to do with his injury as a yearling and whether or not a horse like this can be brought back around. Again, he's twelve years old.

I was thinking about how trainers deal with head shy horses, but I don't think the same approach can be used here. He doesn't show any signs of abuse. I'm wondering if that injury caused this nervous condition and if there's any way to help him.